Getting started with CSR

Not sure if your company is ready for a corporate social responsibility strategy? Don’t understand the importance of well-thought-out CSR initiatives and what they can do for your organization?

The research is clear: “When employees are positive about their organisation’s CSR commitment, employee engagement can rise to 86%”according to an a Sirota Survey Intelligence survey. And companies with more engaged employees do better financially – plain and simple. Gallup research documented productivity increases of 18% and operating margin increases of 27%, just to name two of the positive measurements captured in employee engagement research.

How can I get my company involved to see the benefits of a CSR initiative?

Check this out: our friend and colleague Andrew Long offers a really cool team building activity called: Volunteambuilding – A team building activity that invokes the power of CSR.

This program is for those companies that want to do more in the area of CSR without a major commitment, or for companies that already invest in CSR initiatives and are looking for a unique activity to expand their initiatives.

Introducing Pay It Forward. Available as a stand-alone program or as a scavenger hunt add-on, Pay It Forward takes a simple concept, giving back, and turns it into a powerful and meaningful activity. Here is how it works:

A corporate group is divided into teams and each team is given a quantity of money, usually $100. The teams are given the mandate to go out into the local community to make a difference. It need not be a charitable effort, but teams have the option to do that if they wish. Teams are assigned points based on their success in certain areas: the creativity of their idea, the number of people potentially impacted by their effort, the anticipated ROI on their time and money and the insights they generate for themselves.

Each team writes a brief report detailing their success during the program and as an optional add-on teams are given camcorders and make a documentary of their team in action.

Participants have fun, get to know each other better and get to make a difference at the same time.

Companies that want to experiment with CSR programs or companies that want to expand their CSR efforts can do Pay It Forward as a scavenger hunt add-on by contacting Scavenger Hunt Anywhere or as a stand-alone program by contacting The Greatness Group .

Companies that want to explore CSR in more detail and learn about programs whose benefits include a 30% increase in productivity, employee engagement and innovation should contact us through our contact page here.